Forgotten Memories
by Firefly Dust
Summary: Van went out with Zik...but.....he never came back......what will Fiona do??


Forgotten Memories  
  
Told in Fiona's Point of View  
  
I do NOT own Zoids Chaotic Century  
  
^_^ Enjoy~!  
"Van." I said softly as I watched his blade liger bound off into the sunset. Irvine's Lightning Six and   
  
Thomas's D Bison trailed behind in a perfect delta formation. I don't know why, but every time Van goes out into the   
  
Battlefield, whether it be with a simple invasion of Gunsipers or with Hiltz and his Deathstinger, I feel like a piece of   
  
my heart goes with him. I know I should stop worrying, but how can you stop worrying about someone that is in your   
  
every thought?  
Moonbay put her arm around me and squeezed me in a sisterly hug. "Aw, Fiona-Chan, worried again?   
  
Those wrinkles are going to appear on your face sooner then you think you know!" I turned to my friend and smiled a   
  
one-hundred percent fake smile. "I'll try." I said with fake dedication. Everything's fake now. Everything. Van's   
  
ambition is only to win. That's fake. Thomas pretending not to care that I've chosen Van over him. That's fake too.   
  
Everyone telling me that everything's going to be all right. That's most definitely fake. Why can't anyone just tell the   
  
truth?   
I strolled queitly into the Red River Base. I watched my feet as I tried to make them walk in a straight   
  
line. Left foot in front of right, right foot in front of left, left foot in front of right and so on. You know the problem with   
  
looking at your feet is that you have an awfully hard time seeing what's in front of you. When you don't see what's in   
  
front of you, you kind of tend to bump into things. Things like Thomas. "Miss Fiona!" Thomas exclaimed. "Oh   
  
Thomas! Where's Van?" I asked quickly. He was stepped back and stammered. "W-well, Van is still on the   
  
battlefield." Still on the battlefield? Then why on Zi was Thomas here, in Red River Base, when Van was still out there   
  
fighting? "With Irvine?" I asked earnestly. Perhaps Shoebaltz was a spineless trader, but surely Irvine was not.   
"N-no, Irvine is here." he stuttered. I felt the heat drain from my face as Irvine walked out of the next   
  
room. Van wasn't next to him. I guess the truth struck me right then and there, I just didn't want to face it. Van was   
  
still on the battlefield, and that's where he would stay. No, he was coming back. He had to. He was coming back.   
  
Right now, he was in his Blade Liger with Zik and he was bounding across the desert back to me. Because that's the   
  
way it always happened. And that's the way its always going to happen. I'll be damned if not. Anyone who tries to tell   
  
me different is a liar. They're all telling lies. Because that's all this world is. Fakeness and lies. Because Van is coming   
  
back. He better be.  
I turned away from the two men and shuffled into the Zoid garage. I saw Irvine's Lighting Six and   
  
Thomas's D Bison. They were so heavily damaged, its hard to believe they even made it back to the base. But the   
  
familiar cerulean of the Blade Liger ceased to exist in the drab, grey garage. Unless--unless its not coming back  
. I   
  
pushed the thought to the very back of my head. "Come with me Fiona." Irvine said. "What for?" I asked   
  
empty-headedly. "You--you need to see something." said Irvine awkwardly. He helped me into the cockpit of a   
  
purple Redler. We left the base and flew into the night sky over the Saratoga desert.  
Through the translucent blue of the cockpit I let my thoughts wonder to Van. "Hey Irvine, do you   
  
remember when all of us would sleep under the stars?" I asked dreamily. Irvine seemed unusually tense. "Yeah. I do.   
  
You know, Fiona, maybe this isn't--" "And Van and I, we used to wonder off. And you and Moonbay would come   
  
looking for us and you'd always find us asleep." Irvine seemed to get deathly quiet. "And do remember when Van--"   
  
"Fiona! Stop!" he shouted. I swear his shout woke up the sleeping stars hanging in the sky. "Just, don't. Okay?" he   
  
asked quieter. "O-ok." I said. I gazed up at they sky dreamily. I saw a constellation that Van showed me only a night   
  
before. I couldn't quite think of the name. I'd ask him later, when Irvine brought me back to the base.   
I was dizzy and half awake when Irvine finally landed the Redler. He must've carried me out of the Zoid   
  
because the next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground. I shook myself awake and it took me a while to get off of   
  
the ground. Only about twenty feet away was a stone zoid. It was all rock, a sign that the Zoid was no more able to   
  
function and that its Zoid core was pierced. A dead Zoid. Beside it, a small boulder sat next to it. It was an awfully   
  
lumpy boulder. "Irvine, why are you showing me this? I mean, its just a dead Zoid." I said. Irvine put his hand on my   
  
shoulder protectively, like the big brother I never had. And then, a miraculous thing happened. It was quite amazing,   
  
really. I died.  
The truth became so clear all of a sudden. It was as if I'd been looking through murky water that had   
  
somehow, someway become the most clear and pure water imaginable. I looked to the bottom of the pool. And   
  
there was the thing that I feared most in the world. The thing that I had nightmares about. I walked like a Zombie   
  
awakened from his eternal sleep to the small boulder and dead zoid. I collapsed at the boulder, because I realized it   
  
was no boulder. This was Zik. My beautiful savior. My reliable friend. The one that knew everything about my past.   
  
A rock. Zik was a rock. I put my hands around his heavy neck. "Oh Zik. Zik, please wake up." I pleaded to him. I   
  
swear I could hear him roar. I could hear his roar strong and brave as it had always been. It formed in his throat and   
  
came out softly in his mouth. "I'll let you sleep old friend. Because that's all you're doing. You're only sleeping Zik.   
  
That's all. You're going to wake up later and I'll be right there with you. Me and Van." I said as I let his head lay on   
  
the damp sand. It's funny, though, the hardest part wasn't saying goodbye, it was walking away.  
I didn't want to take that walk. I didn't want to find out what lay beyond the open cockpit of the   
  
collapsed Blade Liger. I brushed my hand over his rough, once blue head. "You're a beautiful Zoid. And you're going   
  
to wake up too, just like Zik." I put my arms as far as they would go around his neck. "And I'm going to be right here.   
  
And then Van and I, we'll ride you over the finest valleys and the lushest meadows. Because you're beautiful. And   
  
your'e going to wake up Blade Liger. I know you are." I let my tears run down his snapped cables and circuits. I   
  
kissed his head and rose. I meant every word of it. Van and I, we will ride the Blade Liger into the lushest meadows.   
  
With Zik in the Zoid Core, we'll run. We'll run faster then the wind itself.  
I didn't want to look inside of the cockpit. Irvine was at my side. "Is he in there?" I asked faintly. Irvine   
  
coughed a nervous cough. The kind you cough just for an excuse to cough. Or to let someone know you're not dead.   
  
Because if you don't breathe that's what you are. Dead. "Yeah. Now listen Fiona, I don't want you to look in there   
  
unless you're absolutely sure that you want to see--" "See what?" I demanded softly. "See Van? That's all right? Van's   
  
in there. That's all. He's no cadaver. He's Van!" I practically screamed. Without a word, he lifted up the top of the   
  
cockpit.  
And there he was. There was Van. There was a deep gash in his forehead. There was a line of blood that   
  
had dripped down his face. Other then that, he wasn't hurt in the least. Just like a big paper cut. That's all it was. A   
  
big paper cut. Blood was also stained on the dashboard, obviously from where he'd hit his head. I could hear him.   
  
"Orion." That was the name of the constellation. It was Orion. The constellation I saw in the sky was called Orion.   
  
Van had taught me that. And he also taught me that. "Van, you're stupid." I said. "Wake up. You're not allowed to   
  
die yet." I touched his shoulder. I was suddenly the thirteen year old I was when Van found me. "Van, you said you   
  
were never going to die; that you were the champion of the world. Champions don't die. Especially now. Van." I said.   
  
I touched the gash on his forehead. I looked at my fingers. A stain of blood was what I saw. "Irvine...how long ago-  
  
-was this?" I asked. "Thirteen hours ago."   
I kissed his forehead. I didn't care if there was blood on it. I let the tears slip down from my eyes. I lay   
  
my head on his chest and cried. I couldn't hear his hear beat. It hurt so much. I wanted to hear the reassuring   
  
thumping that I always heard when I hugged him. But I didn't hear it. All I could hear was my own heart that filled the   
  
entire desert sky.   
The trip back to Red River Base was a giant blur. I had no idea what I was going to do with myself.   
  
Moonbay clutched my arm. "Fiona, look, you need some sleep. We'll worry about this later." she said. Later. Later   
  
was a long time. Later was when Van would come back. He would yell and whoop that he'd won the battle with   
  
surpassable ease. So I'll worry about it when they can bring Van back. When he walks in here alive. That's when. I   
  
followed Moonbay towards our room. The echoing of my shoes annoyed me. I hate it. I hate everything. Van stole   
  
my heart. And now that he's dead, he took it with him. He took it with him. Its still there. Its in the middle of the   
  
Saratoga desert. And that's where its going to stay.   
I layed there, on the top of the covers. I stared out at the sky. I know that I'm never going to be the same   
  
again. Unable to find the sleep I was searching for, I rumaged in my bag of belongings and found a faded photograph.   
  
It was black and white, the sides bent and the whole picutre torn several times and taped back together. I touched   
  
that girl. She embraced the boy. They looked so happy and so at peace. The girl leaned her head the boys shoulder,   
  
and the boy leaned his head on her head. They slept peacefully. At the bottom in red permanent marker it said "Irvine   
  
and Moonbay waz here" I smiled. The tears slipped from my eyes and landed on the boy and girl. I digged deeper, to   
  
where Van kept his special possesions. His father's hatchet lay there....so sharp....so perfect....so final....like the   
  
blood that ran down my arm.....so pure.....so final.....so wonderful.......  
And the rest as they say, is history...  
The End 


End file.
